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The Trump administration is facing the possibility that the president’s tariff regime will be deemed illegal, but when asked on Meet The Press what would happen next, Bessent said, “I am confident that we will win at the Supreme Court, but there are numerous other avenues that we can take. They diminish President Trump’s negotiating position, but there are numerous in terms of, and remember, this isn’t about the dollars, this is about balance. The dollars are an after amount.
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Kristen Welker asked, “Would you offer rebates though? Are you prepared to offer rebates?”
Bessent said, “We would have to give a refund on about half. The tariffs which would be terrible for the treasury.”
Welker followed up, “And you’re prepared to give those refunds?”
Bessent answered:
There’s no be prepared. If the court says it, we’d have to do it.
But, let’s look back again. When I was here in April, the sky was falling with the tariffs that everyone is leaving the us. Since then, the US bond market has been the best performing bond market in the developed world. And from Barclays Bank to Goldman Sachs to others are saying it is the tariff income and the fiscal improvement that we are seeing, and that’s what President Trump is talking about.
On CBS’s Face The Nation, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett gave away the game when he said that the administration could use “other legal authorities” to implement the tariffs.
In other words, the higher prices that the American people are paying due to the tariffs will not be made right if the tariffs are ruled to be illegal.
The Trump administration appears to be playing a shell game with the tariffs. They are going to keep the money while inventing different legal authorities to justify their actions.
The American people aren’t going to get their money as Trump is going to continue to make prices rise.
Trump raised taxes on the American people, and it seems he will provide zero relief.
What do you think about Bessent’s answer on tariff rebates? Share your thoughts in the comments below.